I find this all very sad, and truthfully find no pleasure in this development. Not because I think Kennedy should receive communion, but because he has chosen abortion over Christ Himself.I am grateful to Bishop Tobin for having the courage to speak out to the truth of our faith and the implications of receiving communion by someone who not only supports, but in many ways promotes abortion.
It is good that someone is actually standing up for the faith in a way that makes the seriousness of the reception of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, as sacred as it is.
Of course, the media portrays it as Tobin forbidding Kennedy, but much like all of us when we sin, it is Kennedy making the choice..he has chosen to make his position on abortion more important than receiving the Eucharist, Christ Himself! Very sad....it is as if abortion has become his god.
Pray for him....
November 22, 2009
Report: Kennedy Barred From Communion for Stance on Abortion
by AP
The
Providence Journal reports on its Web site Sunday that Kennedy said in
an interview that Bishop Thomas Tobin issued the order during
discussions with the Democratic lawmaker, further escalating a
simmering ideological dispute between the two men.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned
Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of
the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for
abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.
The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence
Journal's Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between
Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation's
most famous Roman Catholic family.
"The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has
instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion," Kennedy told
the paper in an interview conducted Friday.
Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him
"that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that
I've taken as a public official," particularly on abortion.
He declined to say when or how Tobin told him not to take the
sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop's
injunction.
The paper said the bishop's spokesman declined to address the
question of whether he had told Kennedy not to receive Communion. But
the bishop's office cast doubt on Kennedy's related assertion about
instructions to state priests.
"Bishop Tobin has never addressed matters relative to public
officials receiving Holy Communion with pastors of the diocese,"
spokesman Michael K. Guilfoyle told the paper in an e-mailed statement.
You can read the rest here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/22/report-kennedy-barred-communion-stance-abortion/